Brian McDonald
For most high school students, forgetting their homework or gym clothes might involve texting their parents. In the case of José M. Vazquez, one forgotten item in particular – his birth certificate – meant there was no class that day.
Courtesy of José Vásquez
Vazquez, 24, now a senior at San Diego State University’s Imperial Valley, has been crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to California to attend school about nine years ago. On May 12, he will graduate during a convocation in Mexicali, Mexico. His mother is participating in the ceremony, organized by her college, something she wouldn’t be able to do otherwise because she can’t get a visa to enter the United States.
Vázquez is one of the tens of thousands of cross-border students, some as young as kindergarten, who cross the border from Mexico to California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to pursue their studies in the United States.
Cross-border students have documentation that allows them to enter the US to study, such as a passport, birth certificate or naturalization certificate, but living in Mexico is often more economical and allows them to remain with their families. Students who cross the border during middle and high school often use a U.S. address, sometimes that of a friend or family member, to avoid school district scrutiny.
Some students are U.S. citizens who have lived in Mexico most of their lives, while others return to Mexico after living in the United States for economic reasons or family reunification, said Laura Dicochea, a doctoral candidate at Arizona State University who research cross-border students. .
“It’s like a circular migration,” Dicochea told CBS News.
The first in his family to graduate from college, Vazquez reflected on his – and many other – educational journeys.
A cross-border school journey
After his father was deported from the United States in 2006, Vazquez – who was born in Arizona – moved to Mexicali, Mexico, when he began crossing the border to attend Central Union High School in El Centro, California.
Although he is an American citizen, for Vazquez, like many cross-border people – or cross-border– students, living in Mexico with his family made sense because it’s “so much a part of my culture, of me, that I think it’s going to be so hard for me if I have to leave that,” he said, noting that he’s grateful to study in the States United.
During high school, Vazquez would wake up at 4:30 a.m. local time, wait at the border for about two hours, and arrive at school before his first class at 8 a.m. In 2019, he enrolled at Imperial Valley College, a community college 15 miles from Mexicali, before landing at San Diego State University’s Imperial Valley.
San Diego State Imperial Valley
Vazquez’s story mirrors that of Diana Lara Zamora, 21, currently a senior at Arizona State University, who crossed over to the U.S. from eighth grade through high school.
“I would cross three different states: Baja California, Sonora and Arizona every day,” said Lara Zamora.
She began attending school in the US at age 14, sometimes living with a family friend in San Luis, Arizona. A typical school day for Lara Zamora started around 4am local time.
Her mother drove 30 minutes to the border to drop her and her younger sister off, where they waited among other students before walking 25 minutes or taking a taxi to PPEP TEC High School in San Luis. During the winter, when seasonal farm workers cross into Arizona, the wait at the border can be up to two hours.
“They’re freezing,” she said of the mornings. “I remember my nose was red.”
Courtesy of Diana Lara Zamora
When Lara Zamora became a student at ASU in 2020, she secured on-campus housing, a meaningful experience that allowed her to “meet people from all over the world,” Lara Zamora said.
Javier Melara, 21, who will graduate alongside Vazquez in Mexico, has been crossing the border to attend school in California since he was 11.
“You have to face a lot of challenges,” he said. “You have to face a lot of fear, a lot of resistance from some people.”
Melara said until college he didn’t tell his friends he crossed the border daily for fear the school district might find out.
“I lived in fear because some people were kicked out of school,” he said, noting that it was something he saw happen to several classmates, including a friend.
Lara Zamora told CBS News that “to me it doesn’t seem like cross-border means the border itself.”
“For me, it’s more about having two cultures in you.”
For cross-border students, the benefits of living in Mexico mean regularly facing the challenges of crossing the border: long wait times, tense interactions with customs and border protection agents, and adverse reactions from community members – all in the context of a national debate on migration centered on the border. This week, CBS News reported that illegal crossings along the U.S. southern border declined by more than 40% this year to 129,000 crossings in April, defying historical trends. Although cross-border students legally cross into the US, the act of crossing the border makes them vulnerable to scrutiny.
Scrutiny, fear and then graduation
Another source of discomfort for Melara was her interactions with Customs and Border Protection officials.
“I feel like we have this ingrained fear, this constant fear, like flight or fight,” Melara said of frequently being sent to secondary inspection, which allows agents to conduct additional interrogations.
Courtesy Javier Melara
Lara Zamora, noting that her male friends were often drawn into secondary inspection, said she was careful in her interactions with customs officials. Vazquez said she felt CBP personnel sought to intimidate — a consistent issue that marred her career. “They think you’re a criminal,” he said.
CBS News reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for comment but did not hear back before publication.
Some students are put under a microscope by school district residents. For Lara Zamora, frustration from community members who felt their taxes benefited nonresidents resulted in her transferring to a different high school.
“I felt like it was really unfair because it’s not my fault,” Lara Zamora said. “My parents don’t want to be illegal immigrants here.”
Lara Zamora, Vazquez and Melara graduate this month. Lara Zamora, plans to enroll in graduate school. Vazquez is taking a sabbatical to pursue her passion of performing as a drag queen. Melara plans to pursue a master’s degree in education, one day get a doctorate and “dream without barriers,” he said.
Vazquez’s mother, who attended his drag performances, will have the opportunity to see him on a different stage in the coming days at SDSU’s commencement convocation in Mexicali. Since she was unable to cross the border to attend his high school graduation, Vazquez said it was important to have her at the ceremony in Mexico, especially since he is the first in his family to graduate.
Lara Zamora, also a first-generation student, says the realization that millions of other students have experienced similar challenges inspires her to help students like her.
“First generation means you are the first, but I hope you are not the last,” she said.
